The Anker PowerCore Slim 10000 PD is the Goldilocks of portable batteries. It's not too small, it's not too big, and its size and capacity is just right. The battery has standard USB ports, along with a much speedier USB-C port, and it stores enough juice to recharge most smartphones twice with some room to spare. It's even powerful enough to slow the battery drain on a MacBook.

The Jackery Bolt is the best portable battery for iPhones. It's MFi-certified for Apple devices, and it has an integrated Lightning and micro USB cable for easy charging of your devices. Plus, there's an open USB port for all your other gadgets. Its large 10,050 mAh capacity is large enough to charge your iPhone four times.

This battery pack has enough power to recharge a tablet and two smartphones with room to spare, or a smartphone a day for over a week. It’s about as thick as a deck of cards, and it's a hair taller than an iPhone 8 Plus. It's a good choice for charging laptops and the Nintendo Switch, too. It has two 2.4A USB ports and a single Type-C port.

If you want a cheap but powerful portable battery, this hybrid one from Anker will give you the most bang for your buck. It's about the size of a tape measure, comes with dual USB jacks, and it'll fully charge your smartphone twice. Best of all, it also serves as a wall charger.

This external battery from Anker is able to charge two devices simultaneously, and it's one of the fastest chargers you can buy. It has a large 20,000 mAh capacity, and it delivers enough power to charge your console while you're playing it.

We hate to break it to you, but closing out of your open apps doesn’t save battery life. What you actually need is an external battery pack, especially if you’re someone who constantly forgets to charge your devices, or if you just live life on the edge and always have a low battery.

External battery packs are small, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries enclosed in a durable plastic shell. Most have one or two USB Type-A ports, which is what you're probably used to for charging your gadgets; but some use the newer USB Type-C charging standard that's found on the Nintendo Switch and newer Android smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Google Pixel 3a. Some even have built-in USB or Lightning charging cables, so you can easily juice up your devices, but most require you to use your existing charging cables.

Because pretty much all of today's smartphones lack a user-replaceable battery, an external battery pack is a must-have mobile accessory — because who honestly wants to be huddled up against a charging outlet at an airport?! Speaking of flying, just so you know, the FAA and TSA say lithium-ion batteries like these have to be carried in carry-on baggage and can't be in your checked baggage. Passengers are also limited to just two batteries.

We’ve researched hundreds of portable chargers to find the best, most powerful, and fastest ones you can buy. These top picks will ensure you'll never hover around 1% again. Learn more about our top picks below.

Best Overall

The Anker PowerCore Slim is Goldilocks' third bowl of porridge of portable batteries: It's not too small, it's not too big, and its size and capacity are just right. The battery has two USB ports (one USB-A, one USB-C), and it's powerful enough to recharge an iPhone Xs twice. So, if you forget to recharge the battery on your charger — which you will — you'll be OK. It'll still have juice to recharge your smartphone when you forget to charge that, too. If you're using a Lightning-to-USB-C cable, it'll recharge your iPhone's battery 50% in just a half-hour.

The battery (when fully charged) is even powerful enough to give a MacBook an additional 30 minutes of power. Of course, that's assuming you have a newer USB-C equipped MacBook. Speaking of USB-C, Anker throws in a travel pouch and a USB-C to USB-C cable to recharge the battery, which takes 3.5 hours (if you're using a fast charger) or 9 hours with a standard charger and a USB-A to USB-C cable.

Although we would have liked to see an integrated charging cable with this external battery pack, it's a shortcoming we're willing to forgive, considering the PowerCore Slim's portability and powerfulness. The battery is about the size of an iPhone 8, weighs less than a pound, and is strong enough to recharge an iPad Pro. It even has a trickle-charging mode to safely recharge smaller devices like wireless earbuds that don't require as much power. It's backed by an 18-month warranty.

Best for iPhones

The Jackery Bolt is the most versatile portable battery you can buy. The only reason it wasn't named our best overall pick is because it was larger and heavier than the Anker PowerCore Slim, despite having a slightly larger capacity. But what the Anker lacks is integrated charging cables, which the Bolt has. On one side of the Bolt, you'll find a micro-USB cable for charging your Android smartphone, tablet, or pair of wireless headphones, and the other has your choice of a Lightning or USB-C cable.

The 2-inch cables tuck away neatly when you're not using them. It also has an additional USB output, so technically you could charge three devices simultaneously without issue. There's a small blue LED flashlight on its side, too, but it isn't very bright.

At just 4 inches tall and an inch thick, the battery pack is about the size of a point-and-shoot camera. It's still small enough to pocket, but it'll leave a noticeable bulge in your jeans. Jackery does make a smaller and more portable battery pack that's about an inch narrower. That model has a smaller 6,000 mAh capacity compared to this one's 10,050 mAh, which provides enough juice to recharge a smartphone up to four times, or fully recharge a tablet once. The smaller option is also a Wirecutter top pick. During our testing, we found that the Bolt fully recharges an iPhone X in an hour and a half. It takes 5 hours to recharge the Bolt with the included micro-USB cable and an Apple 12-watt USB Power Adapter.

Best Big Battery

Although this external battery isn't the biggest you can buy, we think if you're in search of a large portable battery pack, this is the one to get. Its 26,800 mAh capacity is huge. You can charge a tablet and two smartphones with room to spare, or a smartphone each day for more than a week. During our testing, we were able to recharge a Nintendo Switch 3.5 times before it ran out of juice. The RAVPower battery is cheaper than Anker's similar offering, and it's just as powerful, but it doesn't include a fast-charger.

The battery is the size of a Texas Instruments graphing calculator, and it weighs one pound. It's equipped with two standard USB ports, as well as a 30-watt Type-C output, which can be used to power or recharge a laptop. You have the choice to recharge the battery with an included micro-USB cable or using the Type-C port. If you pick the latter method, you'll save several hours. USB-C takes just 4.5 hours, compared to 10-plus hours with a micro-USB cable, but you'll need a power adapter, which is an additional expense. Fortunately, a USB-C to USB-C cable is included. This battery will definitely come in handy for power outages, international flights, road trips, or camping. It doesn't disappoint.

If you don't mind slower charging speeds and don't need any USB-C ports, Anker sells a 26,800 portable battery that features three USB-A ports. It's typically cheaper than RAVPower's big battery, but is equally as reliable.

Best No-Frills Option

If you have a tight budget and all you need is a basic, no-frills portable battery pack that's reliable, the Anker PowerCore Fusion 500o is a solid choice. It's unlike any other portable battery in our roundup since it functions as both a battery and a wall charger. Meaning you can use it to recharge your smartphone or tablet overnight, unplug it and top off your smartphone again later without any need for an outlet.

It's about the size of a tape measure and its prongs fold down, so it's not too bulky and is easy to travel with. This hybrid charger offers up a decent 5,000 mAh capacity. That's enough juice to recharge a smartphone twice.

The battery, which weighs a bit less than 7 ounces, has two USB-A ports. There's also a MicroUSB port on board, but that's only for recharging the battery itself — if you don't want to use the standard prongs. The battery takes 2 hours to recharge. It comes with a 2-foot-long microUSB cable for recharging, and is backed by an 18-month warranty. We would've liked a USB-C port on board, but given this battery's low price and small size we think it's well worth the cost.

Anker sells another variant that's powerful enough to recharge laptops and tablets via a 30-watt USB-C port — however, it costs four times as much as this one, despite having the same 5,000 mAh capacity.

Best for the Nintendo Switch

The Nintendo Switch requires a hefty 15V/2.6A to charge, and although we've listed a handful of portable battery packs capable of reaching these metrics, we think the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD is the best battery for the Switch. The Nintendo Switch's biggest selling point is its portability, so we don't think you'll want a large external battery to lug around with it.

Measuring about an inch thick, 6.5 inches tall, 2.5 inches long, and weighing in at 13 ounces, we wouldn't call the Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD small. But we still think it's portable — especially in comparison to other USB-C PD battery packs, and it's easy to toss in a backpack. We also gave it higher marks because it comes with a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, and a wall charger — a rarity among battery packs. Most just come with a charging cable, but no wall charger.

These two accessories can be used to not only charge the battery (which takes about 3 hours), but also to plug your devices into an outlet. As you'd expect, this battery is compatible with the Nintendo Switch since it has a USB-C port. There's a USB-A port onboard, too. The battery's generous 20,100 mAh capacity is large enough to charge a smartphone five times, a USB-C laptop once, and a tablet twice.

Best Waterproof Battery

This external battery pack from LifeProof can handle whatever's thrown your way because it's water-, drop-, and dirt-proof. While we wouldn't recommend mixing electricity and water, our tests did prove that the battery is in fact waterproof — just as long as the door that protects its charging ports is closed. The battery can be submerged in 2 meters of water for an hour. We also dropped the battery into 6 inches of wet snow and it worked perfectly fine.

The battery's large 10,000 mAh capacity will keep your smartphone or tablet charged and ready to go. It's the perfect external battery for camping because it has a built-in flashlight, and it comes with a lanyard that makes it easy to travel with. Not to mention, it's lightweight and small enough to toss in a small bag. The battery is about the size of an iPhone 8 Plus, just much thicker. We were excited to see that it has four bright LEDs. Two of them shine white, the others red. If you press a button, there are different intensities of white, and a steady or flashing red light. This feature would especially come in handy during roadside emergencies or camping. You can expect the battery to charge a smartphone three times and a tablet once.

Brandon CarteTechnology EditorBrandon Carte has been the technology editor at BestProducts.com since 2017, where he's been covering the latest gadgets and scouring the internet for the greatest deals; His tech reporting has been featured on TopTenReviews.com and USA Today.

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